This year, my sweet babe is old enough to pass out valentines at daycare. I was so excited to make his valentines for his cute little friends! I decided to go with the fun applesauce pouches because he loves them and what toddler doesn't love applesauce in a pouch anyway?

I posted this picture on Instagram and people asked for it, so here it is! Just click the picture for the free download. I made it in powerpoint so that you can add text boxes for names.

I also posted this picture which is what I did for his teachers. His teachers are wonderful and definitely deserve all.the.chocolate since they take care of one year olds all.day.long. I mean, people say all the time they don't know how I teach first graders, but honestly these toddler teachers are the real MVPs.

I bet you know this, but we are in the thick of cold and flu season. Thinking to the weeks of school that were between Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break... I don't think I had a single day where every one of my students was at school! I bet that you are in the same boat and will be as we march through the rest of winter.

I am really excited to share with you these awesome posters and resources from My Healthy Classroom and Lysol that you can share with your students about being healthy this season. My Healthy Classroom and Lysol know how much teachers, administrators, and anyone involved in the school setting do to promote healthy habits, so they created these resources to help. I love how they set the poster up with digestible info for kids to understand. It truly teaches them that germs are everywhere, but we can still do a lot to prevent us from becoming sick. The poster looks great in my classroom and I know it will in other classrooms as well!

What is really neat is that there are activities on the back of the poster that can be duplicated and brought into the classroom to teach kids what they need to do to stay healthy this season. You can also use the digital version to reproduce it for your classroom.

And one of the best parts? It's free! I know teachers love that four letter word. You can be one of the first to sign up by clicking this link here and your poster and activities will be snail-mailed right to your school! Please note: One poster per classroom while supplies last. When you sign up, you get a link to the digital version as well!

It's September so that means all things fall! Apple Day is just around the corner! I like to celebrate Johnny Appleseed and teach my students about apples on our early out day that we get for Homecoming. It typically falls around Johnny Appleseed's birthday and since it's an early out, our schedule is completely messed up so it's the perfect day to have stations and eat applesauce.

I wanted to share with you today some of my favorite apple-tastic activities, as well as some of my favorite books I use about apples and Johnny Appleseed.

You can see my last blog post about apple day here where there's a freebie too!

I love using this flipbook with my kids. Last year, I created stations around the room and the kids took their booklets around the room to complete each task. Students have an apple taste test, measure apples, make sink or float predictions, conduct a science experiment with different liquids, and graph the class favorite.

Here's one of my students flipbooks when conducting float or sink experiments.

Here's our applesauce. I used to be that really awesome teacher who made it from scratch. And then I got really tired of my kids complaining about how gross it is because it was brown (from the apples). I decided peeling the apples and spending all that time the night before just wasn't worth it anymore! So, I buy jars of applesauce and put it in the crockpot with some cinnamon and call it a day... #sorrynotsorry

Here my kids are measuring their apples.

And filling out their investigations booklet.

And here's our experiment to see what happens to the apple when place in soda, milk, water, and red Kool-Aid.

Red Kool-Aid apple!

We also had a lot of fun making these Johnny Appleseed hats and book.

This is one of my favorite pages where the kids have to draw the setting. Fun way to tie in a comprehension skill too!

We have a great time celebrating apple day and Johnny Appleseed with these fun activities!

The back to school season can bring so
much excitement for us as teachers! I know that I get so excited to meet my new
kids and their families, getting my room prepped and ready, and shopping for
new supplies for my classroom. I mean, that new crayon smell... Everyone loves
that, right?! However, I know that school supply shopping can be tedious and
expensive for families, especially those with multiple in school! So how can we
as teachers make the whole process easier and more affordable for our kids and
their families?

Use Walmart’s School Supply List
Feature:

I was so excited to find out that Walmart
makes it so easy for both teachers and families! Did you
know that you can upload
your school supply list to Walmart? That makes it so
convenient for the families entering our classrooms!

Why Is Walmart The Best Place To Shop
For Supplies?

1. Did you know that parents can shop their kid's local teachers
school supply list on Walmart.com or through the Walmart app? All the supplies
that are on my grade level list are available through this tool.

2. Walmart has everything you need. I
went multiple times within the past month, even during tax-free weekend when I
expected to find empty shelves, and still found everything on our school supply
list... including the primary journals that seem impossible to find.

Look how stocked Walmart’s glue bin is!

3. Walmart has the lowest prices. I did
some comparisons at Walmart compared to other places I also shop and found that
I would save money at Walmart.

4. THERE’S AN APP. Who doesn’t
love shopping with an app?! Even better, you can choose to pick up at the
store, ship to store, or ship to your house. I personally
think this is where families would really enjoy that convenience factor. It’s
easy!

First, when you click SERVICES at
the bottom, you can click School Supply Lists.

Then, find your school.

Find your list.

Lastly, find everything on your list! I
love that you can click either Walmart.com or At Your Store to find the items.
You can easily toggle back and forth.

Why Is Walmart So Great?

William and I shopped for groceries and
then made our way to the school supply section to shop for back to school
supplies! We love how easy it is to get everything in one place!

For me, I already shop there for
groceries, baby items, and the necessities, so why wouldn’t I shop for my
school supplies there too?! I, along with many other people, am all about
convenience... Especially with a toddler. So, being able to get all of my
shopping done under one roof is a win in my book! That is why I love having our
school supply
list uploaded through Walmart. I know my parents valued the convenience of being able to browse
online in the comfort of their own home. When parents came in to Back To School
Night and said they couldn’t find the primary writing journals or folders with
prongs, I directed them to the school supply list on Walmart and mentioned how
I found everything on our list that way. They were very grateful (those
journals are hard to find every year!).

These magical journals are difficult
for parents to find every year! However, I can always find them at Walmart!

How Do I Make My List Last All Year?

This can be tricky. I do feel that my
grade level teammates and I all do a pretty good job of making all our supplies
last throughout the year. I think the key is to ask for as many glue sticks as your
admin will allow you to ask for ;) I think of the smallest ways to make things
last in big ways.

1. Keep all the glue caps. When a
glue stick is gone, make sure to teach your kids to take the glue cap off and
put it in a special place. Mine just put it in the glue stick drawer. That way,
whenever a glue cap goes missing (you know it happens more than we would like
to admit), you don’t have to panic that the glue stick will be wasted. You can
just grab that replacement cap.

Once glue starts getting used, glue
caps will also be found in here. Students know when they can’t find a glue cap
to get one from this drawer.

2. We ask for two boxes of crayons. Students
have one box of crayons until our winter break in December. Then, they dump all
those old crayons in a bucket. They get their new box of crayons when we return
from our break. However, there’s always lost crayons or broken crayons (even
though broken crayons still color) and so students can get replacement crayons
from the bucket. My current crayon bucket has crayons in there from over two
years ago, so that means my school supply list from two years ago is still
getting its use. ;)

Extra crayon boxes go inside a Sterlite
container and won’t be pulled back out until December!

All the crayons kept from last year for
this school year

I do the same thing with markers!

What Do I Love On Our School Supply
List?

1. The Mead Primary Writing Journal

The pages are perfect for first grade
with primary writing lines and the picture at the top.

2. Folders with Prongs

I use the blue one for a take home folder.
I like having prongs because I attach sight word lists, readings logs, etc. in
the middle (things that I don’t want shuffled back and forth between the keep
at home and bring back to school pockets).

3. Sharpened Pencils

It’s the small things at back to school
time and remember, I’m all about convenience right now. When pencils are
already sharpened, it saves me so much time the day before school starts. I can
just put the pencils in the pencil cup and call it good!

4. Colorful Post-Its

We ask for colorful post-its (not
yellow) for reading. We use them so much! I give each kid a post-it pack to
keep in their book bins throughout the year (yes, some of them will play the
accordion with them... You have to teach proper ways to use post-its for sure!).
We use them for all different reading strategies. For example, if I’m teaching
a mini lesson on connections, I will give them a purpose during independent
reading. I might say, “During independent reading, I want you to find a text to
self-connection in one of your books. Write it on a post-it and stick it to the
page where you had that connection. When we are done with independent reading,
bring your book and post-it to the carpet to share with us.” We also use these
post-its for graphing, voting, and more!

Walmart is stocked with colorful
post-its!

And I am too! :)

What’s On My Personal Wish List?

Ask any teacher and I bet they have 50
million things they would love to have in their classroom. There’s a few things
that I found at Walmart that would be perfect in mine.

1. Silly Scent Markers

These aren’t just on my wishlist; I
bought them ;) I bought them for my art center for Fun Fridays. I think the
kids will love being able to use special, smelly markers during our Fun Friday
time. I also bought a pack for each member on my first grade team because what
teacher doesn’t love smelly markers?

2. Crayon Storage Boxes

This display gives me all the heart
eyes. I bought a couple to test out, but I think I need one for every kid in my
class. We haven’t been in school long and we’ve already had ripped crayon
boxes. Having crayons all nice and tidy in these storage containers is perfect.
Plus, they’re $1.00!

3. ALL THE CRATES!

I have so many of these crates; it’s
unreal. Specifically, that icy blue color. Every time Walmart puts them out at
back to school time, I snag one... Or two. Maybe three. I love using them to
store things in my classroom. They’re also great for seating.

5. Even Toddlers Have Wish Lists

William found some colored pencils he
really wanted while we were shopping too ;)

I hope you’re as excited about back to
school shopping at Walmart as I am! Make sure to check out
the school supply list option and the app! Two lifesavers at back to school
time! I hope you have a wonderful school year!

Guided math is difficult for me. I find it hard to plan for guided math, find engaging activities, and to fit in my small groups. This was a huge problem for me because every day when I tried to pull a guided math group, I felt like I was wasting my time and my kids' time. I felt so disorganized and frazzled. Guided math is important though. So, it was my mission to at least figure out something... Not to master it, but just to get something going.

So, I realized I could start guided math the same way that I start guided reading. You can read all about the first five minutes of guided reading here. This game, Pop The Balloon!, reinforces what is taught in the classroom. Students are practicing skills they learned with each bubble on the card.

With guided math, I knew Pop The Balloon would have to look a little different. I knew it would need to meet the standards of what I was teaching at the time- a lot like in reading, but more specific and skill set. For example, if we are working on shapes, I would pull out the Pop The Balloon: 2D & 3D Shapes cards.

How do you play Pop The Balloon?

Each child in your guided group gets a card. I give each child a different card because...
1. I don't want to make that many copies of the same card (that is a lot of paper and ink)
2. I don't really want them to overhear the person next to them saying it out loud.

Start at the bottom and read each bubble on the way to the top. My kids like to clap their hands and go, "POP!" when they reach the top of their card. If they got them all right, I give them another card. I usually have 5-6 kids in a guided group, so can I listen to them all at once? Obviously not. I listen to one kid, while the rest in the group practice and play at their own pace.

I feel like adding Pop The Balloon to my guided math routine has really helped build skills, but has also built consistency in how I begin my groups.

If you want to hear more about using Pop The Balloon! in guided math, watch the video below:

If you want to try out Pop The Balloon, you can try the b/d reversal set for free! Just click the picture below.

If you are interested in Pop The Balloon for guided math, click the picture below.